By Aravinda Anantharaman | Managing Editor
India Tea News for the week ending Dec. 1
Coca-Cola India Launches Honest Iced Tea Brand
Coca-Cola is set to launch a ready-to-drink tea range in India under its brand “Honest Tea.” The first two teas in this range are green tea blends – Lemon Tulsi and Mango. The tea itself will be sourced from the Makaibari tea estate in Darjeeling, which Luxmi Estates owns. The original Honest Tea was a bottled organic tea company founded in 1998 by Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff. Coca-Cola paid $43 million for a minority share in 2008 and acquired the company in 2011. In May 2022, the company announced it would stop manufacturing the hot-brewed bottled tea, which generated more than $500 million in sales at 140,000 stores at its high point in 2018.
Assam Tea to be Marketed by Patanjali Ayurved
Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has sought assistance from Indian spiritual guru Baba Ramdev, who runs a popular FMCG brand, Patanjali Ayurved, to promote Assam tea. Patanjali was launched in 2006 and has built its brand around herbal and natural products. It has a current market share of 8-9% and a market capitalization of $5 billion. This week, Indian media reported that Patanjali would soon add Assam tea to its product portfolio, which is reportedly to help Assam tea access a global market and reduce the threat of Kenyan and Sri Lankan tea to Assam’s tea industry.
Two Dooars Tea Gardens Reopen
In October this year, 13 tea gardens closed in the Dooars following their inability to meet the bonus agreement of 19% with trade unions. This week, two gardens, Samsing and Banandanga-Tondu, were reopened after being shut for 49 days. The Telegraph reported that Samsing has 1,460 workers and Bamandanga-Tondu has 1,174 workers. The state government secured an investor for these two estates and moved to reopen them. The new owner, Rittick Bhattacharya, was quoted as saying workers would be given a bonus of 9% and that wage dues would be cleared soon. The state minister for tribal affairs and backward classes welfare has said that efforts will be made to reopen other closed gardens in the region.
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